From Pop Tarts to snow blowers, consumer product sales are being driven by the weather and predicted with increasing accuracy by IBM.

AI-driven analytics pair with detailed weather forecasting to help merchants know what specific items shoppers will want to purchase, when and where they will shop, and how much they will buy. IBM has fine-tuned its forecasting models so they can provide store-level forecasts for specific products (SKU’s).

Interestingly, the most important drivers in the models are not economic but weather related.

Guidance: Current weather conditions can affect buying behavior, driving up demand for umbrellas or hot coffee, for instance. However, forecasts of longer range patterns tend to have a greater influence. For instance, this year much of the United States faced an early cold Continue reading →

On October 19, 2018, UPS held job fairs at over 170 locations to attract seasonal hires. In anticipation of the holiday buying season, UPS plans to hire 100,000 seasonal workers. In what UPS is calling “Brown Friday,” they hope to hire 40,000 seasonal workers in one day.

1. What is the best way for UPS to manage the national hiring day event?

Guidance: Project management would be the best approach to handle this event. It is complicated by having over 170 locations. It’s a good opportunity to discuss how to plan such an event using project management techniques.